Council leader, family killed in their sleep in Iraq; separate attacks on base kill 16

By Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN

Updated 8:41 PM ET, Thu November 7, 2013

Story highlights

Attacks on a military base kill at least 16 and wound another 42

A family of 6 are killed in their sleep

Among them was the head of an Awakening Council

Violence has killed nearly 6,000 people this year, according to the U.N.

Gunmen burst into the home of a local leader Thursday in Iraq, killing him and five of his family members as they slept. The attackers then planted explosives and blew up the home, police said.

The attack took place in Tikrit.

Elsewhere, a suicide car bomb followed by a suicide bomber targeting a military base in al-Tarmiya about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of Baghdad on Thursday evening, police officials told CNN.

At least 16 people were killed and 42 others were wounded in the two attacks.

The suicide car bomb struck the main entrance of the base and the suicide bomber blew himself up inside the base.

Al-Tarmiya is predominantly Sunni, located in Salaheddin province.

Police could not immediately say how many of those killed and wounded were security forces.

In Tikrit, the man killed led a local Awakening Council. The councils are made up mostly of Sunni fighters who turned against al Qaeda in late 2006. The movement is backed by the United States and is a target for jihadists.

It was one of several attacks earlier Thursday that killed 14 people and wounded 15, police said.

In Mosul, a bomb at a vegetable market killed three people and wounded 10 others. In Anah, a suicide car bomber targeted an Iraqi army security checkpoint, killing three Iraqi soldiers and wounding five others.

And in Baghdad, two people were shot dead by gunmen in two incidents.

Violence in Iraq has killed nearly 6,000 people this year, according to the United Nations.

Iraq's Shiite-led government has blamed recent violence on Sunni extremists with al Qaeda in Iraq.